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Zen and many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

The Indian Ancestors in Saga Arashiyama, Kyoto.

To touch on a very simplified history of Buddhism and Zen, Buddhism takes the historical Buddha Venerable Sakyamuni and his community called the Sangha as its beginning roughly 26 centuries ago, though of course the pursuit of wisdom and some of the practices of Buddhism are much older than that. It flourished and developed in India, split into several schools over generations, then declined, towards the end of its decline in India it spread to China via the silk routes, both north and south, and in China it found a new renaissance based on the platform of Indian thought. Mahayana Buddhism which is translated as ‘Great Vehicle’ teaching became predominant in East Asia.

Zen Buddhism has its origins at the beginning of Buddhism, found in the Buddha’s own dialogues the teaching ‘truth beyond words’ of metaphoric understanding or Prajna. Prajna lays at the centre of Zen and life, it is the centre of Venerable Sakyamuni’s teaching and self realization.

It may be said that there are two views that may be had, that there is Buddh-ism with its doctrines and forms, and separately Zen, the truth , formless vehicle that lays underneath it. Both are in typical Buddhist fashion true simultaneously. And one might ask why would one need the other? Certainly why would Zen, need Buddhism? To understand that is to understand that all of the Buddha Way is directed to metaphorical understanding. That is the very nature of ascending from Dukka, or the fragmentation of this life, before realising Prajna, or the great metaphorical freedom of realization. Zen cannot be ultimately free of the vehicle of Buddhism because we need a lense for seeing.

Buddhazou on the hill, by the author sumi ink on Kitayama pine
Buddhazou on the hill, by the author sumi ink on Kitayama pine

Buddha as Avatars

It’s sometimes surprising to people to note that Buddhism does not have just one Buddha, ‘what is this Amitabha Buddha, and what is he to Sakyamuni Buddha?’ A person might think for years they are looking at a statue of Sakyamuni to be informed one day ‘no that’s Daiichi in fact’. And isn’t that fat guy at the Chinese restaurant Buddha too? In a sense the Buddha Dharma is not represented by one figure alone, but by the family of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Guardians, Celestial Beings and Ancestors. Most of this Pantheon originates in India in its recognisable form and is then added to and restyled in China during the Chin and T’ang dynasties. This Pantheon and its evolution is representative of the evolution and depth and breadth of the Dharma teachings. Sometimes the members of the pantheon of Buddhism are stern and wise, sometimes stout or ethereal, serious and humoured. For every ten meter guardian there is a laughing mischievous dancing Buddha. It seems the road to metaphoric understanding is lined with metaphors to be met and understood.

It’s also important to understand the Indian concept of the Avatar when examining how Buddhism and Zen treats the many Buddha’s, Bodhisattvas, Guardians,  Celestrial beings, messengers etc., that make up its pantheon. Many thousands of years old, not totally exclusive to Indian tradition in the ancient world,  the Avatar persists in contemporary Indian spiritual traditions. The Avatar is a concept of being which is not omnipotent or distant in heaven, but a being that manifests facets of humanness. Though Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are not explicitly avatars, the tradition of the avatar is undoubtedly part of the evolution of Buddhism and remains influential in how the Bodhisattva vehicle developed. In some instances we see some pre-Buddhist avatar gods subsumed into Buddhism, some Bodhisattva are original to Buddhism but share the avatar principle in function in Mahayana mythology. So the Buddhist Pantheon is a mix of historic figures and mythological figures who take on tutelary roles. The members of the pantheon function as both personal and other narrative figures. The Historical Buddha Venerable Sakyamuni is for the most part lost to us after 26 centuries, but it seems clear that he, or the people attributed to him, taught in metaphorical narrative, and the role of the Buddhist Pantheon is to continue that tradition.

In the Zen school the pantheon of Buddhas and Bodhisattva are representative of the facets of the Buddha’s teaching and the ascent to metaphoric understanding that we might all undertake. According to the Parinirvana sutra which details the last teaching and the dying days of Venerable Sakyamuni, he teaches us finally, ‘in all these years what I have taught you is incomplete, you must find the rest for yourself’ this lays at the heart of Mahayana doctrine. In many other traditions truth is often claimed to be handed down through other being, but in the Mahayana, the ‘Greater Vehicle,  the incomplete truth, is not a problem but an opportunity, the nature of the incomplete frees us from what otherwise can be a doctrinal prison so ever present in other traditions, philosophies, superstitions and theories. But it also presents a sweet problem, opportunity, and for that we need a structure, and that is why the Zen school has not evolved separately from Buddhism as its own unique way. Zen is Buddhism its self, at its very heart, the journey into self realization of no self.

This brings us to a short note on Zen Buddhism itself, that it is a vehicle not for seeking answers but embracing questions, embracing the unknown, the un-born truth that can’t be shaped and defined except by it’s limitless change and non-change. The very nature of Zen Buddhism is to train, and the training of mind and body is undertaken in the same spirit as Venerable Sakyamuni practiced and by the same way, to embrace Not-knowing Not Abiding ‘Mu-so mu-jyo’.

The figures also through visual art make the teachings available to the reach of those who could not read or did not have the time to delve deeply into doctrinal arguments and theories, the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and others are easily recognized and easily understood for their individual and collective qualities.

First of all to start with, Venerable Sakyamiuni Buddha is the historical Buddha that most people are familiar with, also known as Gotama, and Siddhartha. The dates during which he lived are disputed and I won’t attempt to get into that here, that’s beyond the scope of this article, except to say it might even be that Venerable Sakyamuni is a conglomeration of many different people roughly living around the same time, it is now a great passage of time, as some historians suggest its possible, but the general acceptance is that he was a person living in India approximately 25 to 26 centuries ago. He might have been a prince, there are various differing accounts, in the Zen school he is accepted as the figure who dedicated himself to training and reached Awakening and matured himself and the story of the Bodhi tree is associated with him. For all intense purposes, in the Zen school his real story begins with the Bodhi Tree, perhaps the account of his Awakening underneath the Bodhi Tree is its self a distant and obscure memory of the relationship between early Buddhists and Jainism, a school of philosophy of the time which exchanged much with early Buddhism. Venerable Sakyamuni is the primary tutelary figure of the Zen school, and Theravada Buddhism. He represents training and the ascent to wisdom. He was the teacher of stories and law, and represents the self sacrifice and wholeness of wisdom, the training of Zen Buddhism because Wisdom doesn’t fall from the sky, and the hope that age experience alone will bestow it is often proven wrong. It can be said that Zen Buddhism is Buddhism without the Buddha in a sense, that he must cease to be seen as separate from us, just as all things must. Metaphor  and metaphorical understanding must become one and the same. None the less he is the historical figure and anecdotes of his teaching make up a considerable part of Zen in leading us to our own awakening.

Bodhisattvas of the Zen school

In the Zen school figures of Venerable Sakyamuni are usually enshrined in the Main ceremonial Hall, usually flanked by the Bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra  Fugen. Venerable Sakyamuni attained his realization while sitting zazen, and typically in Zen temples he is recognized as the Buddha sitting in zazen.

It’s appropriate to mention Amitabha Buddha, he is sometimes enshrined in Zen Temples, he is not a historical figure however, he is the future Buddha, in the Zen school the Buddha that we all are that will be realized through training on opening the eye of Prajna realization.

The primary Bodhisattvas of the Zen school being Manjusri or Monju, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, and Samantabhadra  Fugen the Bodhisattva of training.Typically in the main hall Buddha, Manjusri and Samantabhadra make up the trilogy. This grouping being based on Sakyamuni’s teaching that the first step to overcoming suffering, fragmentation in your life or Dukka is by extinguishing ignorance and embracing seeing, and this comes about through the effort of seeking and training.

Manjushri is also enshrined in the Zendo where the monks or nuns themselves practice zazen, as Manjusri is the tutelar Bodhisattva of training. An important Sutra to the Zen school is the Virmalakirti sutra in which the Bodhisattva has a conversation with Yuima an Indian Buddhist Layman. Yuima turns out to instruct the Bodhisattva in Mahayana doctrine. Their conversation was a popular theme in Japanese sculpture and painting and an important sutra to the Zen school.  

Other figures seen in the Zen school are Fudo Myoo one of the three Fudo guardians. He is depicted as a fearsome demon who having heard the Dharma converted from his evil ways to help living beings instead. That’s a common thematic teaching in Zen and Mahayana schools, Awakening to channelling self sacrifice and Compassion. He carries a sword like Manjusri to cut away delusions, and a rope to drag us back to our reality. As if it takes a dose of worst of us to overcome that capacity for doing the worst. The good friend we must make of our evil angels if you like, because the Buddha way teaches us that fighting is forlorn and freindship is greater,  and so it begins within ourselves even with the part of us we hope to distance from.

Another figure often present in the Hondo is Ojizosama the Bodhisattva of Monk’s, mother’s, children and those who are at risk. He is the eternal monk, and in the mythology of Buddhism he also goes down into he’ll to save us carrying the Jewel of Wisdom to light the way and a pilgrim’s staff. We might imagine Ojizosama kindly and quietly making arguments to the Four Judges who decide fate, while Fudo myoo holds the torturers at bay and prepares our escape. But more realistically together Manjusri, Jizo and Fudo myoo represent aspects of ourselves and the task we face in this everyday world as we get up, walk and sit. In the forests and mountains of Japan you will often find a moss covered stone Jizo with a pile of stones at his feet. Give him a stone to take to pay the boatman to take you back across the three rivers back to reality.

Besides often being enshrined in the Main Buddha Hall alongside the three Bodhisattva, O-Jizosama is often met in cities, in gardens, in the country side, on a tiny mountain pass road, and in the later case often surrounded by a collection of small rocks put there by passers-by to pay the boatman.

O-Jizosama illustration by the author pen on paper (Zen and many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas)
O-Jizosama illustration by the author pen on paper

In the temple office is Itaden, he is observed at the end of day’s closing, he is the guardian of the office and represents busy endeavour.

Another figure sometimes seen either flanking the Bodhisattvas or on the ceiling or walls of the Hondo, Benzaiten who appears sometimes with her own attendants in the form of Indian or Chinese maidens among the heavens. She represents the close association that Zen Buddhism has with Arts and culture. She and her attendants are always carrying musical instruments and sometime pens. Zen Buddhism has a long association with visual, poetic and musical arts. Earlier in the history of transmission of Mahayana Buddhism Benzaiten was more important and cult. Benzaiten is courtly and was at the hight of popularity in court culture.

And the fat guy, the laughing Buddha at the Chinese restaurant is Venerable Hotei, he represents a happy life, and sense of humour, a reminder of the lighter side of life. He’s usually installed as a Bodhisattva in the Hondo somewhere flanking the greater Bodhisattvas. He’s also a historical figure, and representative of the lineage of Zen teachers to the present day. Hotei was a Zen master in T’ang China who lived as an itinerant from place to place. He always had a smile, and demonstrated his great Zenki, or Zen Power, the agency of Awakening, for him this often meant wandering from place to place, giving toys to children, chopping wood for people and so forth. Hence he became the much loved figure that’s known as the Laughing Buddha or Laughing Bodhisattva. He represents in the Zen tradition not only a memory of the historical person, but all the Ancestors and the collective wisdom passed down through the Zen school from generation to generation.

The Arhats are the Indian Ancestors, the disciples of Venerable Sakyamuni, and each one is usually sculpted to depict their various famous traits of character. Some of these traits may be factual memories of these people, others facsimiles of the various traits that will be found among any group of human beings. Because the Arhats represent not only these possibly historical people, but ourselves as well and the distributive wisdom of the lineage of Zen Buddhism through the many centuries from generation to generation. The Arhats maybe depicted within the Buddha Hall, or outside the temple, in the garden or somewhere near, and one thinks of a famously well known grouping in Saga Arashiyama near present day Tenryuji one of the five great Kyoto Temples of the Rinzai school.

The Indian Ancestors in Saga Arashiyama, Kyoto. (Zen and many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas)
The Indian Ancestors in Saga Arashiyama, Kyoto.

And of course the Nata, the snake who is associated with the mythology of Venerable Sakyamuni’s Awakening.  In East Asia the snake guardian blended with the superstitions of dragon guardians, so the snake of India became the dragon of East Asia, typically one  or two dragons are commonly depicted, furling around in the heavenly clouds. These depictions are  found in the Great Buddha Halls, Dai Hondo, of Buddha Halls across east Asia, on the ceiling above the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and others, in smaller temples they might on screen doors.

It’s impossible to talk about the imagery of Zen Buddhism without talking about the temple garden. The temple garden is an extension of the Hondo, it is a place of a myriad of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and may according to design incorporate the passages of the Sutras themselves. Stones are arranged to represent not just pleasing scenic landscapes but arrangements of for example three stones representing Buddha and the Bodhisattvas in sanzon arrangement, others representing the crossing over from ignorance to Awakening, seas of empty nothing leaving us to insert the water in our own mind’s eye. And of course the garden is a place to sit zazen. Even the garden is metaphor and offers the opportunity for metaphoric understanding.

The exact arrangement and depiction of various Buddhas and other figures of the Buddhist pantheon can differ from temple to temple, depending on the temple’s history. Whether it was constructed specifically to be a Zen Temple or converted from other use. Kenninji in Kyoto originally belonged to the Tendai sect of Buddhism, while Tennryuji was converted from a spralling villa complex given over by the Emperor Go Daigo, Tofukuji was purpose built as a Zen Temple and follows the custom of Zen temples in its layout as the written character for Human in Chinese. Others may be converted sub temples, houses etc.

How do these images function in Zen training and Awakening to the Great Question?

In the Great Hall rituals are carried out on the calendar year, marking the anniversaries of the various Bodhisattvas and Ancestor teachers and moments in the historical Buddha’s life, such as his Awakening at Bodhgaya said to have taken place on December 25. Meanwhile in the Monks halls and offices incense is offered and chants and bows are made to Fudo Myoo, Manjusri and Itaden. But it should be understood that this is not the religious devotion found in other religions to other, but rather the discipline of attention and exercise of humility.

In the Zendo the Jikijitsu officer who oversees the sittings and their assistant walk Manjushri’s stick representing the Bodhisattva’s sword and the effort to open Prajna Wisdom – the eye of one mind in zazen. Offers incense and makes deep bows throwing the dust of the world over their shoulders on behalf of the trainees. In this way the practice of zazen and the pursuit of wisdom are balanced with humility among the ccommunity.

Daily life in the training hall is a process of rising to the bell, the attendance to Manjusri Bodhisattva, and zazen, followed by a formal morning observance, work in the gardens and then breakfast with its accompanying observance – the grain of rice is the product of the 5 attributes… more zazen, face to face with the head monk – the living Bodhisattva, and so it goes on through the day.

Destroying the thousands of Buddhas. Non-separation

In fact there are a myriad of Buddhas, each one of us, good and bad, destroyers and creators are Buddhas. And there is not really in this sense ‘each one of us’ – but one. Connected to all things and not-a-thing, because this is all an illusion even Buddha and Dharma. Compassion in Buddhism is defined as the way of the Bodhisattva, Giving, Kind words, Kind Thoughts and Identity action. The last being the embodiment of the first three through living and acting and free agency.

 This begins with the act of zazen, and sanzen exchanges between master and disciple, Buddha talking to Buddha, Buddha playing with Buddha, Buddha destroying Buddha.

Spiritual free agency or Prajna, it’s attainment and maturation is the ultimate freedom of the Zen school, without Prajna, also called Zenki, in the Zen school, Dyanna, or zazen is of its self not the destination. Power and wisdom does not derive from other, it is the cultivation of Prajna, in this sense we may say zazen is the boat we navigate the ocean of Dharma and the Buddhas, ancestors, are our companions and friends, fellow crew. Not to worshipped but to be respected and understood as facets of ourselves.

Attending to the Head monk with Genjo Koan is none less than face to face, Buddha to Buddha transmission. Attending to the koan moment to moment is Buddha brought to life and destroyed. Buddha disappears. All philosophy is destroyed, all worship is worthless.

Recommended reading : Zen and Japanese Buddhism,   DT. Suzuki

Article and Illustrations by

Mujyo Williams

Trained as a Zen monk at Tofukuji Rinzai Daihozan Senmondojo, Kyoto, Japan, and is Kiedo Fukushima’s disciple in the Zenkei Shibayama lineage.
He is the head of the Australian Zen Studies Institute.

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